The present invention relates to a vehicle body structure for use in a vehicle having a fuel tank positioned underneath a longitudinally extending floor tunnel, and a shift change mechanism on the floor tunnel, and more particularly to a vehicle body structure including a longitudinally long and laterally narrow fuel tank mounted underneath the londitudinally extending floor tunnel.
Vehicles having both an engine and driving wheels forwardly located or rearwardly located, have eliminated the need for a drive shaft extending from a forwardly located engine to rearwardly located drive wheels. Therefore, a fuel tank for storing fuel therein can be placed underneath the longitudinally extending floor tunnel taking the place of the eliminated drive shaft. The floor tunnel longitudinally extends in the vehicle, and has a limited lateral width, to provide for a spacious passenger compartment in the vehicle. Hence, the fuel tank must be sufficiently long in the longitudinal direction to store a practical amount of fuel therein. Further, a gear shift lever, which changes the gearing ratio in a transmission, must be located adjacent to a driver's seat to facilitate easy operation thereof. However, the problem of reducing the space of the projecting floor tunnel while maintaining an equivalent amount of fuel storage, has made it difficult to install a gear shift lever in the restricted passenger compartment.